Panaji, Sep 1 (IANS): The Goa government is poised to launch its ambitious pre-poll initiative to provide 16,000 litres of free water per month to the domestic households from September 1.

In a public address on Tuesday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant urged people to save water and not squander the precious resource once the scheme is launched from Wednesday.

"A total of 16,000 litres of water will be given free of cost from September 1. We are not giving this water to be wasted. We want to save water to get free water. Domestic consumers will also be waived meter rent," Sawant said.

The Chief Minister also said that 60 per cent of the households in Goa would stand to benefit from the government's free water initiative.

Sawant said that the free water policy should be taken in the right spirit and urged domestic water consumers to ensure that they save water "so that the essential resource could be provided equitably" across households in Goa.

The Chief Minister had first made the announcement to provide 16,000 litres of free water in his speech on August 15 this year.

While the move comes ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled early next year, the announcement on Independence Day this year came a month after Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal announced free power up to the first 300 units for all domestic units in the state, if the Aam Aadmi Party wins the Assembly polls.